baseballprep

This is my first post ever so im gonna make it a good one. Enjoy this article i found. Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 10:02am EDT County approves financing for Marlins stadium South Florida Business Journal - by Oscar Pedro Musibay After a mind-numbing recess that lasted into the early morning, Miami-Dade County Commissioners acted on promises that the Florida Marlins made to cover a $6.2 million gap in bond funding for a baseball stadium. The 6-3 vote clears the way for closing the bond deal ? possibly today ? and construction of the much-debated and long-awaited stadium in Miami?s Little Havana. The park is supposed to be finished by 2012. Commissioners voted after midnight Wednesday to allow for a higher cap on one of the bonds being sold to cover the county?s commitment on the $640 million stadium and infrastructure. Instead of covering $347 million, the county is on the hook for $342 million of the project. Commissioners also voted to allow for a higher cap on one of the bonds to be sold to pay for the county?s portion of the project. The 7.5 percent cap was changed to 8.2 percent on the bond tied to convention taxes. The fact that the convention bond will sell at a higher interest rate will result in lower revenue for Miami-Dade, County Manager George Burgess explained to commissioners. That created the need for more money, so Florida Marlins President David Samson promised to cover the $6.2 million funding gap. Commissioner Bruno Barreiro said, "I feel comfortable with the agreement. The Marlins will step up to the plate and pay the additional $6 million. At the end of the day, the taxpayers are not going to be on the hook for the additional monies." Voting against the agreement were Katy Sorenson, Carlos Gimenez and Sally Heyman. The debate started at 7 p.m., but stopped at 9 p.m. to allow attorneys to make changes in the financing package. Earlier in the day, commissioners approved a change that raised Wachovia?s status as a creditor in the financing package. Wachovia, which is providing up to a $100 million letter of credit, requested that it be paid first from the county?s list of creditors. The votes on Tuesday and early Wednesday morning followed two other big developments. On June 19, city commissioners voted to approve the necessary changes to the Marlins package to clear the way for the county?s changes Tuesday. A circuit court judge also ruled in favor of the county in one count of a civil lawsuit that could have prevented the county from selling the necessary bonds to build the project. That case is on appeal in Miami, as is a lawsuit filed by auto dealer Norman Braman, who last November lost his legal bid to declare the stadium?s funding plan unconstitutional. Work on the baseball stadium site is set to begin Wednesday. Crews will officially break ground on July 18. In April, county commissioners approved issuing bonds totaling a maximum of $536 million toward construction of the $640 million, 37,000-seat ballpark.